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review for Boo Boo Davis from Germany

Boo Boo Davis und besondere Begleiter

Da gab es mal ausführliche Touren. Dann der Stillstand durch die Corona-Pandemie. Freunde sammelten Geld, damit sich der Blues-Künstler Boo Boo Davis über Wasser halten konnte. John Gerritse, Jan Mittendorp und Boo Boo Davis, der nun auf die 80 zugeht, haben für „The Trio 2008-2019“ (Black and Tan Records) ihre liebsten Stücke zusammengestellt. Eine berührende wie beachtliche Bilanz. Boo Boo Davis aus Drew/Mississippi schont weder seine Stimme noch hält er sich mit wildem Mundharmonika-Spiel zurück. Nicht weniger roh fährt die Gitarre mit wahnsinnigem Wah-Wah dazwischen oder poltert das Schlagzeug. Grandios, weil unverschämt direkt. „Hold Your Head Up“ heißt ein Song. Gute Maxime. Das haben die drei über eine lange Zeit hinbekommen.

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review for miXendorp from Hungary

Négyszámos EP-vel jelentkezett miXendorp

Számosan akadtak olyanok, akik az új korok kihívásainak megfelelően megkísérlik megújítani a több mint százéves múltra visszatekintő blues műfajt. Közéjük tartozik a holland Jan Mittendorp is az egyszemélyes projektjével, a miXendorppal. A project indulása az elmúlt évtized elejére tehető, ekkor jelent meg az első lemeze, a Blues + Beat, amit Európa-szerte fellépések követtek. Mittendorp néhány hónapja új dalokat kezdett írni. Ezek a blues, jazz, world music, funk, techno és mindenféle más zenének az eredeti és eklektikus keverékét képezik. Az új nótákat tartalmazó négyszámos EP Xperimental Trance Electro Blues címmel novemberben digitális formában látott napvilágot. miXendorp nem áll le, jövő év elejére további felvételeket ígér.

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review new miXendorp EP

Also known as Jan Mittendorp, one-half of the ElectroBluesSociety, Mixendorp (or DJ MiXendorp) spins blues licks into thick, tasty electronic bangers. The cohesion is so thick that there’s no way to separate one from the other.

And yes, there are Boo Boo Davis samples rambling through here. I suppose this could be called an EBS side project, but it’s simply a slinkier, more electronic version. Jasper Mortimer’s bass and percussion is missing (and those bounding bass lines are an obvious loss), but it’s also interesting hearing one side of the EBS conversation.

A side that is fully-rooted in the blues and electronic music. If you cannot imagine how blues-influenced music could fit in on a club floor, about ten seconds of this will be all the convincing you need.

Just as addictive and accessible as any EBS set. Some people know how to mold music into beautiful new forms. And some us that as a launching pad for something transcendent. Four tracks are hardly enough, but they instill a wonder that will glow for an eon or two.

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review for new track Bacon Fat Louis & miXendorp

There are certain unspoken rules in life. For instance, if a toddler hands you a plastic phone and tells you it’s for you, you answer that phone. Another is if someone suggests you a song that is “some RL Burnside, a slice of the Legendary Shack Shakers, some parts of Bob Log’s helmet, a few pieces of T-model Ford and a little bit of Left Lane Cruiser [in a blender] remixed by miXendorp and his bluestronica and electro blues” you hit play.

Out of the Netherlands, miXendorp has remixed bluesy “steaming no-nonsense boogie with a little taste of that fine voodoo garage-sound” Bacon Fat Louis and dished up a reimagining of “My Demands” via the independent record label & publishing Netherlands-based Black and Tan Records.

“My Demands (Remix)” is an electronic fusion of Bacon Fat Louis’ final track off their 2021 album Bfl#3 and packed with stuttered riffs and hip-moving beats that fuse a sense of classic blues with modern electronic concepts. The remix ups the swagger and tonal presence of an already catchy blues track while infusing an energy that is less club and more open-ranged.

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review from Turkey

İSTANBUL BLUES KUMPANYASI – ‘LİVE AT EFES PİLSEN BLUES FESTİVAL 1997’ (BONE UNİON RECORDS)

İstanbul Blues Kumpanyası, 1997 yılında 8. Efes Pilsen Blues Festivali’ne davet edildiğinde ilk albümleri “Kökler”i henüz çıkarmıştı. Ekip albümdekinden biraz farklıydı; Sarp Keskiner’in Tuzlu Nehir projesinde yer alan müzisyenler ile İBK kadrosundan seçilmiş altı kişilik bir kadro sahneye çıkmıştı. Hilton İstanbul Convention Center’da çaldıklarında masanın başında StarAs’ın İngiliz çalışanı, Sarp’ın isteği üzerine eline tutuşturulan dat’a -gündüz ve gece- iki seti de kaydetmişti. Yıllardır Sarp’ın çekmecesinde duran kayıtların şimdi bir kısmı dijital platformlarda.

23 dakika süren beş parçalık EP’deki (kısaçalar) kayıtlar, sadece mastering aşamasında minik dokunuşlarla yayımlanmış. Orijinallerine çok yakın hatta aynısı olduğundan zamanın ruhunu, atmosferini iyi yansıtıyor. Konserin ardından topluluk içinde dil ve müzikal tercihler konusunda tartışma başlamış, direksiyon farklı rotaya kırılmış, sonucunda üretken bir sürece girilmişti. Dile kolay çeyrek asır olmuş. Bu tarihi belge, yirmili yaşların keyfini süren tutkulu takıntılı müzik çetesini daha iyi anlamamıza vesile.

Sarp’ın kurtarılmayı bekleyen harici harddisc’inde daha çok İBK kaydı var. Derli toplu bir mecrada, düzen içinde yayımlanması dileğiyle…

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and another nice review for Boo Boo & ElectroBluesSociety

Boo Boo Davis and ElectroBluesSociety – Transatlantic Quarantine Sessions

The pandemic has kept Boo Boo Davis and ElectroBluesSociety from meeting up in person. But that didn’t keep the Dutch duo from working out with Davis. What had been an annual European tour for the trio became an exchange of sessions over the wire. The mix of Davis’ old school delta singing and the creative ferment of Jasper Mortier and Jan Mittendorp has been enhanced. The sound is more experimental and more primal than their earlier work. Necessity has created a set of songs that take the blues into uncharted waters. This isn’t a set of remixes or samples. It’s a full collaboration that brings out the best and most innovative sides of each musician.

While the production can’t quite erase the “assembly” feeling that this sort of recording can bring, that distance (and the strikingly different sounds of the studios) lends these songs that much more of an eternal and otherworldly quality. The blues means different things to different people, and I imagine a lot of people might wonder how some of this relates to the blues at all. The isolation between the notes that simply wails should be enough.

Many of these songs have been released over 2021 as singles. This set is a worthy document of the plague years. Let’s hope for a full concert season in 2021. Davis and the Dutchmen may never follow this exact path again, but it is surely a worthy one.

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review from Hungary

Senel Karatepe a törökországi Lüleburgaz városban született, és jelenleg is ott él. Középiskolai tanulmányai alatt kezdett el érdeklődni a zene és a gitározás iránt. A Dokuz Eylül University Zenetudományi Tanszékének hallgatója volt, a diploma megszerzését követően zongoratanítást vállalt, de adatbázis-adminisztrátorként és weboldal-fejlesztőként is dolgozott. Jelenleg csakis zenéléssel foglalkozik. Bemutatkozó albuma, a Hard Times 2006-ban és 2007-ben rögzített dalokat tartalmaz, olyan előadóktól, mint Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Charles Brown, Big Bill Broonzy, Ray Charles és Eric Clapton. A lemez a holland Jan Mittendorp és a török Sarp Keskiner által alapított Bone Union Records gondozásában digitálisan jelent meg.

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another review for Boo Boo Davis + ElectroBluesSociety

https://www.blues21.com/boo-boo-davis-electrobluessociety

A musical society to stand up to the present and speculate about the future. Boo Boo Davis, bluesman from Mississippi bone in 1943 and two experienced dutch sound scientists, Jan Mittendorp and Jasper Mortier behind ElectroBluesSociety. What can you expect when they get to work together ? The distance between St Louis (USA) and the Netherlands is 4530 miles, insufficient for the three musicians to start working on their second album together. The internet is a zenith of creative freedom. The blues instinct out in another dimension of the electronic intuition supervised by the bluesman. A waterfall of originality and freshness, Davis whispering the harmonica and murmuring the songs hidden behind the guitars, percussions and sounds of the electric society. The purism will back down before this album but without proposals like the these the alley will continue without having a suggestive exit.

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short UK review for new ElectroBluesSociety single

Blues In The South published a short review from Norman Darwen on the new ElectroBluesSociety single:

Bluesman Roscoe Chenier recorded some fine material for Black & Tan, including this fine a cappella rendition of the old gospel standard, released in 2006.

On this new single download release, ElectroBluesSociety have added a modern, bass heavy musical accompaniment including slide guitar it is actually pretty sympathetic and effective. The track runs to five minutes long, and although purists may sneer, if it brings a new audience to the blues, it will have done its job.

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review ElectroBluesSociety on The Wizard

ElectroBluesSociety are a Dutch-based “Organic Dance music” duo mixing electronics with raw, vintage live Blues-based sounds; self-described as “two guys and a bunch of junk with a broad taste and an open mind. Together, they are mixing modern technologies with 30+ years of live stage experience.” ElectroBluesSociety (EBS) consists of drummer and bassist Jasper Mortier and guitarist and Black & Tan Records owner Jan Mittendorp. Mortier has worked with the likes of Paul Oscher, Preston Shannon, “Sax” Gordon Beadle, Philip Walker, and Boo Boo Davis, while Mittendorp has toured extensively across Europe & The US with artists such as Percy Strother, Smokey Wilson, Boo Boo Davis, Erskine Oglesby, and Roscoe Chenier. Jan Mittendorp personally, worked with American R&B singer and guitarist Roscoe Chenier for nearly 20 years and released two of his critically-acclaimed albums—Roscoe Style (1998) and Waiting for My Tomorrow (2006)—on Black & Tan Records. Chenier’s rendition of traditional Gospel hymn, “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” was originally released on Waiting for My Tomorrow in sparse, stripped-down acapella form. Now, nearly 12 years after its initial release, Black & Tan Records have properly re-released “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” with a newly-orchestrated backing track arranged by EBS to accompany Roscoe Chenier, who, unfortunately, passed away in 2013. Jan Mittendorp said, in an exclusive statement sent to The Witzard, “Jasper and I and both terrible singers (to put it mildly) but [on the other hand], we love Blues and Roots music, mainly because of the vocals.” Mittendorp enthusiastically continued: “so, instead of doing some bad singing ourselves, we prefer to use something good that is already existing. We have some more projects coming up, where we use new vocal recordings of guest singers that we invited for a recording sessions.” ElectroBluesSociety’s “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” personally, reminds me of Jamie xx’s 2011 full-album remix of Gil Scott-Heron’s 2010 return-to-form I’m New Here, fittingly re-titled We’re New Here. “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” has been released as a digital-only single on Black & Tan Records, now available on Apple Music, Deezer, Soundcloud, Spotify, and similar like-minded digital retailers.